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No fewer than four of the boats in the Yngling fleet won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Athens 2004. There are numerous World and Continental Champions from the Yngling and other classes. In fact all female gold medallists from Athens (except windsurfing) are right now sailing in the Yngling Worlds.

The scene was set for world class sailing with 15-18 knots building a moderate chop in the green water of Biscayne Bay. Spectators, organizers, officials and coaches enjoyed watching the wonderful show of racing and from more than one boat a grunt was heard that they wished they were racing themselves.

The shifts were more even over the course compared to Sunday and even if most wind shifts were not very big there were plenty of them. The Yngling being a very speed similar boat made the race a mind game of strategy and tactics.

The British team of Sarah AYTON, Sarah WEBB and Pippa WILSON held on to the lead with a third and a second in Monday's races. A coach commented that, 'It's about keeping the number of mistakes to a minimum'. The British team just managed to be on the right side of a shift and on the inside lane up to layline most of the time.

A surprise in this regatta is the performance of the Australian team of Krystal WEIR, Karyn GOJNICH and Angela FARRELL. The helmswoman, WEIR, has spent just eight weeks in the boat as a replacement for Nicola BETHWAITE who was injured in a biking accident. BETHWAITE was helming the boat when the team qualified Australia for the Olympic Games in Cascais. WEIR, a past Laser Radial World Champion, was runner up to sail the Radial at the Olympic Games for Australia.

After a series of 4,6,2,3 scores, the Australians are currently ranked second in the Worlds. The Australian Coach, Adrian FINGLAS, comments that, 'It has been a tough eight weeks and the plan has all along been to keep it simple, sail your own race, don't get into close fights with other teams and focus on the basics'. Something that is obviously working very well for the Australian team.

The race winners on Sunday's first race were Anna BASALKINA, Vladislava UKRAINCEVA and Ekaterina MAXIMOVA (RUS). The second race was won by the German team of Ulrike SCHUEMANN, Julia BLECK and Ute HOEPFNER (GER).

Results - click here
Yngling World Championship - www.ussailing.org/olympics/ynglingworlds/index.asp